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“Report Terrorists to Who?” Tinubu’s Call to Nigerians Backfires as Citizens Demand Action, Not Speeches
President Bola Tinubu's June 8 call for Nigerians to report terrorists and kidnappers was met with instant and brutal backlash across social media.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sat behind his desk in Abuja on June 8, 2026, dressed in dark navy agbada, and delivered a message that was meant to reassure. "Report terrorists. Report kidnappers. We will not allow bandits to define the lives of Nigerians." What followed was not applause. It was a torrent of anger so swift and so precise that it revealed, in a single afternoon, the abyss that now separates the presidency from the people it governs.
The Statement That Lit the Fire
The president's call was simple on its surface: citizens should provide intelligence, and his administration would act. It was the kind of civic appeal that leaders everywhere make in times of insecurity. But in Nigeria, in June 2026, it landed like a match on petrol. The reply from the street was immediate, and it was devastating. "Report to who? The same police wey dey collect ₦100 for checkpoint?" "Zamfara villagers report bandits daily. Dem still come back next market day." "My uncle reported kidnappers. He was killed next week. Who protects whistleblowers?"
This was not a protest. It was an inventory of betrayal. Nigerians have been reporting. They have submitted tips, videos, locations, photographs. They have done it for years — since Chibok, since Benue, since the Kaduna‑Abuja highway became a theatre of abduction. And the result, as far as they can see, has been silence, retaliation, or the quiet death of a file in a police station that nobody ever opens again. To ask them to "report" now is to ask them to believe in a system they have long stopped trusting.
Why This Hit Harder Than a Normal Speech
Timing is everything, and the president's statement arrived in the worst possible week. On June 5, Edo residents blocked bypasses with burning tyres, chanting that "government no dey do anything" about kidnapping. On the same day Tinubu was speaking, Oyo State was demolishing a kidnapper's den — an act of physical, visible force that made the presidential appeal for citizens to "report" feel flimsy by comparison. And in Abuja, a woman and three girls held placards that read: "I AM SCARED OF TAKING MY CHILDREN TO SCHOOL."
In that climate, "report them" did not sound like a strategy. It sounded like a president passing the burden back to the people his security apparatus has failed. As one X user posted, with the kind of brutal concision that defines Nigerian social media: "You have DSS, Army, Police, Air Force. But you want market woman to do your job?"
The Trust Gap That Speeches Cannot Bridge
This is not the first time President Tinubu has urged Nigerians to assist in the fight against insecurity. But three years into his presidency, the scorecard is being written in ransom payments, not press releases. Families are still crowdfunding millions on social media to free loved ones. The Benin‑Auchi and Abuja‑Kaduna roads remain routes that require prayer before departure. Parents are still protesting outside schools, holding placards that no parent should ever have to hold. When the president says "bandits will not define our lives," the honest reply from too many Nigerians is that they already do.
There are supporters who see the president's appeal differently. Intelligence is vital, they argue. Citizen tips have helped bust cells before. The president is engaging, not hiding. These are not unreasonable points. But they miss the central problem: reporting only works if response works. Until Nigerians trust that dialling 112 will not get them killed, ignored, or marked for reprisal, "report them" will continue to sound like "figure it out yourselves."
The president spoke from Abuja on June 8. The country replied in seconds. The question hanging in the air, as the dust settles on another week of abduction and anxiety, is whether the presidency is listening — not to the tips it asked for, but to the anger it received in return.
Have you ever reported a crime and seen action? Or is Tinubu asking too much from citizens with no protection? Share your experience — good or bad. The country is keeping its own records now.
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